Hormone Balancing Salted Chocolate Almond Butter Cups Recipe!

04/08/2014

Hello friends!

Caitlin here. I’m a Holistic Nutritionist and Culinary Nutrition Expert and I run the company Nourished by Caitlin Iles out of Birth Rhythms in downtown Saskatoon. My number one passion in life is spreading information about the benefits of eating a diet rich in real foods, i.e. not foods that come in premade (unless it’s one of my delicious soups!), with huge lists of ingredients, or that make ridiculous health claims on their packaging.

Eating real food is especially important if you’re trying to conceive, pregnant, nursing, or raising a little one. Making sure your body is properly nourished is one of the most important steps you can take to increase fertility. When you’re getting the proper nutrients in your diet, limiting intake of pesticides and synthetic hormones from non-organic food sources, your endocrine system is primed to send all the proper signals to your reproductive organs, boosting your chance of conception. Not only that, but when the majority of your diet comes from real food sources, you ensure that once pregnant your baby is getting all the nutrients he or she needs. The benefits here are two-fold in that you’re creating a beautiful healthy baby and helping alleviate a myriad of deficiency symptoms that can unpleasantly manifest themselves as morning sickness, fatigue, or a host of other common pregnancy complaints.

Today I’m so excited to share this delicious recipe for Hormone Balancing Salted Chocolate Almond Butter Cups. With the holiday season fast approaching it’s a great idea to have an arsenal of go-to healthy treat recipes so that you never have to feel deprived while you’re eating for good health. These treats can be made with or without the maca, though I’ve included it because it’s an excellent food for balancing sex hormones in both men and women. Maca is a Peruvian root vegetable that has a profoundly nourishing and modulating effect on the endocrine system through its action on the hypothalamus and pituitary glands. These guys are basically the bosses of the whole endocrine system, so if they’re functioning optimally, it can help ensure all the other glands down the line are receiving the proper signals on how they should be functioning as well. This means proper signaling for sex hormones and a possible increase in fertility and libido 😉 I’ve also chosen almond butter because it is much less allergenic than peanut butter and contains healthy omega fats for optimal brain function. You can also make them with coconut, cashew, hazelnut, or walnut butter.

Without further ado, here’s the recipe!

Ingredients

• 1 cup cocoa butter
• ½ cup cocoa powder (look for 100% organic cocoa powder)
• 1 tbsp. maca powder
• 3 tsp. vanilla
• 1/3 cup raw honey
• 1 small jar almond butter (~250g you won’t need the whole thing!)
• Sea salt to taste.

Directions

1. Create a double boiler by taking a metal bowl and placing it over a saucepan of water so that the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water in the pot and there is a rough seal between them.
2. Place on oven at a med-high heat so that the water beneath the bowl starts to boil. Once it is rolling, you can turn it down to a simmering temperature.
3. Shave cocoa butter into small chunks and place into bowl.
4. Stir until melted then add cocoa powder, maca, vanilla, and honey and whisk together until smooth.
5. Once all ingredients are incorporated remove bowl from heat.
6. Pour a little less than half the chocolate into the bottom of a mini muffin cup then place in fridge/freezer for about 10 minutes or until hardened.
7. Once chocolate is fairy firm take a small spoon and begin dropping ~ 1 tsp. of almond butter into each cup.
8. When finished pour the remaining chocolate over the top of the almond butter, sprinkle with salt, and place in fridge to set.
9. Try not to eat the entire batch…

Well friends, I hope you enjoy this tasty recipe! Make sure to check out my blog at caitliniles.wordpress.com for more recipes and follow me on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/nourishedbycaitliniles, to keep up-to-date on my classes and workshops.

Caitlin